Regular readers of this blog will know that it was while we were watching England’s painful efforts in the World Cup that I suggested Michael Vaughan had to relinquish the captaincy before the one-day series against West Indies.
He strongly opposed this view and only recently told me in no uncertain terms that he believes having different captains for one-day cricket and Test cricket does not work.So the fact that he has stood down now suggests that it has been put to him by the selectors and coach that he will not be chosen this week, and he was given the chance to fall gracefully on his sword before being dropped.
First, it gives new coach Peter Moores the chance completely to overhaul the one-day strategy that England blindly pursued in the Caribbean.
Attacking players are needed at the top of the order, batsmen who seize the initiative during the first power play.
And while we must wait a little longer for Marcus Trescothick to return, Matt Prior, Alastair Cook, Vikram Solanki and Ravi Bopara strike me as being the sort of batsmen who should be considered.
The second advantage must be that it will probably prolong Vaughan’s Test career.
He has worked very hard indeed to overcome his knee injury, but you can’t help but feel that he is better out of the rough and tumble of one-day cricket.
England need Vaughan to lead the Test team against Australia in 2009, and this gives him the best possible chance of doing so.
My choice of his replacement is Paul Collingwood. He has very limited captaincy experience, but I have no doubt he would make a good leader.
Importantly, he has no realistic aspiration to be the Test skipper, so the threat that Vaughan fears from a split-captaincy set-up should not exist.
The pair are also good mates and I do not see why the arrangement should not work well, and in England’s best interest which, after all, is what this is all about.
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